Sam Holmes
Sam Holmes is the left hand side of Duo Rider, but also a Rider in his own right as Mono Rider Joker. A self-proclaimed "hardboiled detective", he dresses in a retro fashion based on late-1930s style, favoring fedora hats and waistcoats. He is often called 'half-boiled' by his friends, however, because he cannot fully shut out his doubts, often acts according to his feelings, and has difficulties making cruel yet necessary decisions, contrary to his hard-boiled aspirations. He works as a private detective in the Windy City and as chief of the Windy City Detective Agency. Eventually, he becomes the legal guardian of Marie Sandoval, the late governor's young daughter. History Vowing to stop anyone that makes his city cry after, as a child, witnessing Sherlo Ishino's first fight with the Spider Drivor, Sam eventually became Sherlo's protégé. His final job with Sherlo involved investigating a mysterious organization, at the behest of an equally mysterious client. While infiltrating a Gaia Drive research building, Sam met Philip for the first time. However, due to Sam's recklessness, their cover was blown and it indirectly led to Sherlo being shot to death. Sherlo then left Sam to continue on in his stead, giving Sam his prized fedora and making him chief of the Windy City Detective Agency in his final moments. Shortly afterwards, Philip and Sam used the Duo Driver - which Sherlo had been carrying, perhaps with the intent that he become the body of Duo Rider - to transform for the first time, in order to escape. Refusing to let his mentor's memory be in vain, and to atone for his mistake, Sam works to stop the Drivor crime wave by being the man on the street, contacting his various informants and transforming into Duo Rider by providing his body for the combination. Sam's physiology is not ideal for Gaia Drive use, and he was never Shroud's ideal choice for the 'body' half of Duo Rider. Because of this, he had trouble maintaining their Rider form when Philip's power was evolving. However, he later proves that he has a knack for being the 'wild card', being incredibly difficult to predict in such a manner - this quality leads not only to him resonating strongly with the Joker Drive and match Philip's heightened power, but also displaying the ability to exceed expectations and being able to transform into Duo Rider X by sheer willpower. Sam also appears to be the one who came up with the names of Duo Rider's finishers, as demonstrated in episode 16 when he decided to call FangJoker's Maximum Drive "Fang Strike". Though this is ostensibly to enable him and Philip to synchronize themselves better, it seems Sam simply likes doing it, as he names his attacks when he fights solo as well. Personality Sam's basic personality is an homage to the fictional detective Philip Marlowe (ironically, his partner's namesake), as is his aspiration to be a hard-boiled detective. Sam's decisiveness and honed detective intuition make him a remarkable detective even without the help of his partner. However, his friends and contacts often refer to him as 'half-boiled', as he wears his heart on his sleeve and let his emotions get in the way of making the cruel yet necessary decisions that real hard-boiled detectives, such as his mentor, would have little problem making. Even though his emotion and dedication to the choices that he makes causes him to come to blows with his partner and others, there is an affection to their calling him 'half-boiled', and eventually he accepts it as his way of doing things. Despite his flighty exterior Sam cares deeply about his clients, his friends, and his city and will do anything in his power to protect them. Sam is a contrast to his partner Philip, showing great capacity for emotion and empathy as opposed to Philip's cold and logical thinking. Because of his emotional side, he is capable of understanding the emotions and actions of others. It is continual exposure to Sam's emotional nature that leads to Philip warming up to his own emotions. Due to his aspiration to be hard-boiled, Sam usually tries to be the serious and cool-looking one in his group, but that often results in him often being the one who is being made a fool of by others, his friends and enemies alike. Sam takes the role of Duo Rider very seriously and with great pride, as the name was given to them by the citizens of the city themselves. As such, he tries very hard to make a good name for Duo Rider, and live up to expectations that came with the title. He is fond of anything retro and this can seen from what he wears to he uses. He is rarely seen wearing anything that is not a set consisting of a dress shirt, a pair slacks, a necktie, a waistcoat and most importantly (to him at least), a fedora hat. He is always seen typing on a typewriter for case-filing purposes, despite having a laptop in the hangar. His bike helmet is also a retro-styled one. His fondness for retro-styled items is so intense that one can say that his use of anything modern is only out of necessity. Abilities Being trained by Sherlo for years, he has honed his detective skills enough to become a competent private detective who is able to solve cases even without the help of Philip. He has a keen eye for details and has good deductive intuition, as such he is able to piece information together quickly and coherently and thus rarely fails in determining the culprit behind cases. His skills is such that the police, specifically Drake, would often come looking for his help when dealing with Drivor cases. Oddly enough, he has also shown a great skill in locating pets easily, more so than finding people, first seen when trying to locate a cat not knowing it was a trick and finding Mick. As a result, he has developed a fame out of it and most of his clients sought him out so to locate their lost pets, to his chagrin. In combat, Sam proves himself to be a competent fighter even without using Gaia Drives, being able to take on several Masqueraders without having to transform. Even in a weakened state of becoming an old man due to the Old Drivor, he is still able to make use of whatever motor skills and stamina left in his deteriorated body to put up a good fight. Gaia Drives The Gaia Drives are mysterious USB flash drives imbued with the powers of the Earth itself. Originally created by Shroud after leaving the Carroway Family's Museum organization, these Gaia Drives end up in the possession of Sam and Philip, and can only be used through the Duo Driver or a Mono Driver. Two can be inserted into the Duo Driver, allowing Sam and Philip to transform into Duo Rider. Sam's left-half Drives, called Body Drives, determine the type of attack or weaponry that Duo Rider uses. *'Joker Drive': The Joker Drive, also known as the Trump Card Drive, allows the user to increase fighting potential, becoming the Skill Warrior. When used, half of Duo Rider becomes the black Trumping Left Half. When the Joker Drive is placed in the Maximum Slot on the Duo Driver, it allows Duo Rider to execute the Joker Strike Rider Kick. Sam can also use the T2 version of the Joker Drive with a Mono Driver to become Mono Rider Joker. Later, after T2 Joker Drive was destroyed and after Philip disappears, Sam would use the original Joker Drive to transform into Mono Rider Joker. *'Metal Drive': The Metal Drive, also known as the Steel Drive or the Fighter Drive, empowers the user with great strength, becoming the Superpowered Warrior. When used, half of Duo Rider becomes the silver Fighting Left Half. *'Trigger Drive': The Trigger Drive, also known as the Sniper Drive, turns the user into an expert marksman, becoming the Magnum Warrior. When used, half of Duo Rider becomes the blue Sniping Left Half. Mono Rider Joker *'Height': 195 cm. *'Weight': 85 kg. Ability Perimeters: *'Punching Power': 1.25 tons *'Kicking Power': 3 tons *'Maximum Jump Height': 30 m *'Maximum Running Speed': 100 m. per 6.2 sec Through the power of the T2 Joker Drive and the Mono Driver, Sam uses the power of the Joker Drive to its full potential. When the Drive is placed into the Maximum Slot, Joker executes either a Rider Punch or Rider Kick Maximum Drive. Along with Mono Rider Cyclone, the two can execute Double Rider Kick Maximum Drive. This form is lost after the T2 Joker Drive is taken by NEVER; But, after Philip dissolves into data and becomes one with the Earth, Sam finds in the present Philip gave to him, the Mono Driver from the incident. He uses his original Joker Drive in place of the T2 Joker Drive to become Mono Rider Joker again. However, one year later, Sam is overwhelmed by the newly formed EXE group until Philip returns. It is shown that if he finds Philip is in the middle of one of his obsessions again and too occupied to fight, he will swap out the Duo Driver for the Mono Driver. Equipment Mono Driver With Sam unable to use the Duo Driver he uses a Mono Driver he received from Skull instead to transform. This Memory Driver was lost in the battle with Mono Rider Eternal, but Shroud gave Philip another Mono Driver and Philip kept it, which he later gives to Sam. To transform, Sam places the Joker Drive in the Memory Slot to transform into Mono Rider Joker. Gaia Drives *'T2 Joker Drive': The T2 Joker Drive was one of the 26 T2 Gaia Drives and the first Gaia Drive used by Mono Rider Joker, both for the transformation and Finisher. The T2 Joker Drive was the Sole memory that NEVER was unable to locate during their reign over Windy City. However, after being visited by Mono Rider Skull, Sam realizes that the Drive was what created the recent hole in the Agency's ceiling, having been called to him as he was the person that resonated most strongly with it. He then takes the Drive and uses it in unison with the Mono Driver that Skull gave him to combat the T2 Drivors and rescue Philip. However, the T2 Joker Drive was lost when Eternal was able to defeat Joker using the T2 Unicorn Drive to execute his own Rider Punch Maximum Drive. It was then destroyed when Duo Rider Gold X's Golden Xtreme Rider Kick destroyed Eternal, along with all other T2 Gaia Drives. *'Joker Drive': After the T2 Joker Drive was destroyed and Philip dissolved into data completely, Sam uses the original Joker Drive in place of its successor. There is no noticeable difference in Mono Rider Joker's form or abilities when using this Drive; if anything, it's possible the T2 Drive may grant an increase in basic power. Notes *He shares the same given name, initials, and abilities with Sherlock Holmes. *Sam is similar to Archie Goodwin in that he investigates and gathers evidence for Philip, and tends to narrate in his spare time. Both are also skilled detectives in their own right. *With him in possession of the Metal Drive and Trigger Drive, it is possible that Joker can switch Memories and assume other possible forms. Category:Protagonists Category:Primary Riders Category:Riders Category:Heroes